


An Even Hand

by Missy



Category: Brave (2012)
Genre: Banquets, Family, Gen, Growing Up, Hawking, Humor, Irreverence Toward Religion, New Responsibility, Responsibility, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Fergus and Elinor decide that Merida's first major decision as a budding regent should be to help them pick which of two lairds should lay claim to a sunny, grassy valley on the south side of the island.  But Merida has a tough time picking between one claimant's heaven-looking pitch and another man's earthly claim.





	An Even Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



> There's some slight irreverence toward religion here, but it's all in good fun!

It was a terribly long dinner.

Merida liked to think that she was bearing up through it with much more poise than she had displayed before. She managed not to pick her nails, belch, or shove food into her mouth. When the Corks and the O’Doulls brought their grievances to her father she listened and weighed their arguments, without betraying her thoughts with a sniff or a smirk. Deep inside, she was making plans to go riding as soon as the whole affair was over. She loved her family but she needed a break from them. An extremely large, long break.

The Corks were agitating for a piece of land nearer the shore of the island stream; they needed it so their sheep could be better fed. It was a matter of great, raging debate and Merida wondered why they couldn’t put more sheep in the fields at the center of the fertile valley. It was a silly argument, and they were wasting their time, which was almost as aggravating as having to listen to the triplets fight over the last apple.

She plucked the fruit from Hammish’s hands, and then took her knife. Quick as a wink, she sliced the apple into quarters and plunked the fruit onto their trenches. The boys looked at her with round, thankful eyes as they accepted a quarter each, and Merida crunched on the last one while she listened to her father try to persuade these men into doing what he needed them to do.

“I just don’t think it’s possible, Fergus,” said old man Cork. “We need the sunlight to keep our wee sheep growing, and the hay trimmed tight!”

“And if he’s getting more land I want more space by the shore for my ships!” yelled O'Doull. On and on they shouted, as the servants poured wine and beer and her father mediated.

It was late into the night by the time Merida finally escaped the table; her mother carried one triplet over her shoulder, and another loosely gripped Merida’s left hand, the last sprawled over her shoulder. They were all drooping by now, and the boys were sent off to rest with barely a peep.

“I didn’t think they’d ever stop talking,” Merida groaned.

Elinor laughed softly. “Oh, that’s not even the worst of them! 

Merida grinned at her and she laughed. An exclamation came from the hallway and Fergus ambled through the door, kissing his wife and pecking the top of his daughter’s head.

“I think that went well,” he said, with false mildness that made Merida giggle. 

“Oh aye. You didn’t punch either of them – I’m proud of you,” said Elinor. 

“I’m getting beyond my punching years, girl,” he said. “I think,” Fergus said, tucking his hands proudly at his waist, “Merida should decide who gets the grazing land.”

Elinor folded her hands over her mouth. “Fergus! Do you suppose she’s old enough?” Merida felt as if she were on display under her folks’ scrutiny, which was embarrassing enough to make her feel squirmy.

“Mom. Dad. I’m right here,” Merida plead. 

“Aye you are,” said Fergus, playfully ruffling his daughter’s hair. “I wouldnae be able to miss you with that mop top ye inherited from me.”

Merida groaned dramatically, and even Elinor giggled at her warm coziness of the moment. Merida sat on her mom’s bed and Fergus considered the possibility before him. “Well, we’re going to have to give an answer to the Corks And the O'Doulls alike. And since ye’re not to marry yet it’s best you put all of those diplomacy lessons your ma’s been giving you to work.”

“Aye, and I know the sort of answer you’d like to give them,” Elinor said. She was smiling at her husband’s bluster. “Merida has your temper and my mind; she might be the answer to the problem after all.”

With flattery like that rolling off her parent's tongue like honeyed mead, what could she do but say yes?

 

 

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Indeed, the next morning Merida found herself gently slipping off of Angus’ back, having been sent hawking with the Corks in a show of camaraderie. 

She had little experience with the sport; indeed there was something about the bird’s wildness being manacled this way that struck a bit too closely to home. But Merida shouldered the hawk with a soft grunt. The little devil kept pecking away at her hair, but she paid Shamus Cork as much attention as she could as he gestured to the rolling hayfield before them.

Shamus was clearly attempting to feel out her reactions, to find out if she had some sort of sympathy for his plight. “This is what life is about, girl. I know your da thinks it’s about family but nay; it’s about enjoying the sweet blessed freedom that nature offers.”

“I can see your point,” Merida said, as she squirmed against the ticklish, painful pecking of the bird. “Ow! Stop your fussing you wee beastie…” She pasted on a quick false smile when he looked at her askance. “I’m sorry, Laird Cook. I’m a bit distracted.”

He clicked his tongue and the bird immediately stopped feeling about in her hair for some treat. “Don’t ye have any experience with living animals, girl?”

“Aye!” she said proudly. “My horse Angus! I trained him from a foal.”

“Ahh, horse people,” he said. “I never could take to them. Now to send your hawk alight, you give your arm one swift shake. Whistle and she’ll return to ye. Are you ready?”

Merida nodded. She clicked her tongue and shook her arm, and the hawk took flight. 

The sight was majestic enough to make her understand his point of view.

 

 

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Connor O’Doull was determined to visit every single abbey on Dun Broch. Merida could have tolerated this, but even her hearty legs, used to running and jumping and climbing, had their limits.

After the third abbess blessed him and his line, she offered Merida and Connor bowls of thick lamb stew flavored with thyme and bannocks. She dug into them ravenously, as did Connor.

“I hope this morning’s taught you a lesson about the importance of faith,” he said.

“Oh aye,” she said, though she didn’t feel spiritually changed at all. 

“Now you know why I want that land for a church. The ghels on my land deserve the finest place upon which to stand.”

That she could understand. “Can’t you find them a place near your own homecastle?”

“I would,” he said, “but I promised my mam that I’d find them somewhere green and sunny.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “Well. I’ll see what my da thinks,” she said.

But she could see his point.

 

 

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She did have dreams about falcons cresting over the roofs of churches for the rest of their stay, but she couldn’t come up with a fair solution. 

And, she noticed, her father and mother didn’t approach her for one.

 

 

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The O’Doulls and Corks were preparing to leave while Fergus gently patted his daughter’s hand and drew her off to the corner of a room during their farewell dinner. 

“Well, girl,” her father said, “who do you think’s right?”

She considered their arguments silently. The O’Doulls were pious people with their eyes on their faith, but they weren’t cruel with it, didn’t like using it as a cudgel against the weak. The Corks were fine people who loved the land, they just appreciated it in a different way.

Suddenly her eyes widened. “Da, I think they should share the land, right in half!”

He smiled. “Aye, do ya now?”

“Oh yes!” she said, clapping her hands eagerly. “The O’Doulls want an abbey and the Corks want their grazing land – they both think it’s a beautiful place but for different reasons!! The best thing to do is let them look at it from both sides – put the abbey right in the middle of the grazing lands! The nuns can help the sheep and look out on the big rolling hills, and the sheep will get fat in the sunlight…” She trailed off as he grinned down at her. “Did you already come to that decision by yourself?”

“No,” he said. Kissing the crown of her head, he said, “but it’s just what I would have picked.”

Merida groaned in relief. Her parents had always balanced the clan’s rule between them, like a board laden heavy with sweets as a picnic, they knew pulling too hard on one end would send the whole mess end over end to the ground. She was proud that they were willing to let her stand in the middle and help them hold the whole mess in the air.


End file.
